A cylindrical battery has a bottomed cylindrical outer can, and an electrode body and a non-aqueous electrolyte are housed in the outer can. In a manufacturing process for the cylindrical battery, a positive electrode and a negative electrode are coiled with a separator interposing therebetween to produce the electrode body, and the electrode body is inserted into the outer can. The partially finished battery having the electrode body inserted in the outer can is inserted into a cylindrical holder for conveyance and successively conveyed to a post-process, such as a welding step and a liquid injection step, with a conveyer while maintaining a standing posture (Patent Literature 1 to 3).
For example, in a cylindrical non-aqueous electrolyte secondary battery, metal leads are joined to a positive electrode and a negative electrode. A positive electrode lead is drawn from one axial end surface of the electrode body and a negative electrode lead is drawn from the other end surface of the electrode body. The negative electrode lead is bent along the end surface of the electrode body, and the electrode body is inserted into the outer can such that the negative electrode lead faces the bottom surface of the outer can. Meanwhile, the positive electrode lead is drawn from the opening of the outer can.
In the cylindrical battery, the positive electrode lead is joined to the end on the winding start side or the intermediate portion of the positive electrode. In either case, the positive electrode lead is drawn from a portion other than the center of the end surface of the electrode body. Therefore, it is necessary to position the partially finished battery so as to fix the position of the positive electrode lead with respect to an assembly device.
Patent Literature 1 describes providing a step in a part of the outer circumferential surface of a holder for conveyance and engaging the step with a carrier slope provided in a conveyance path to position the holder for conveyance. In that case, it is possible to position a battery with respect to an assembly device with the holder for conveyance taken as a reference.
Patent Literature 2 describes a holder for conveyance formed with an elastic inner wall portion that is disposed with respect to the inner circumferential surface of an outer wall tubular body via a clearance, and a battery holding portion formed swelling inward from the elastic inner wall portion. The inner circumferential surface of the battery holding portion serves as a battery holding surface for holding a cylindrical battery. With this configuration, the battery is stably held in the holder for conveyance.
Patent Literature 3 describes a holder for conveyance in which an iron ring having a larger specific gravity than that of synthetic resin is embedded near the bottom surface of a tubular body portion formed of the synthetic resin so that the center of gravity is positioned in a lower part. With this configuration, the holder for conveyance being conveyed with a conveyer can be prevented from falling down.